Launched in 2002, the JAI' Olive Tree Campaign distributes olive saplings among farmers, sponsored by individuals, YMCAs, YWCAs, churches, church related organizations, human rights organizations, as well as solidarity and advocacy groups around the world, as an act of solidarity and support to help 'Keep Hope Alive'. The farmers supported are these who suffer from the various Israeli policies that put their land and property under the threat of confiscation, and the sponsored olive trees get planted in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip areas where olive trees have been uprooted and destroyed by the Israelis, or where fields are threatened to be confiscated by the Israeli military Occupation, or where parts of the Israeli apartheid wall and settlements are constructed on part of the land.

"Security reasons" is the Israeli excuse given for the uprooting of trees, while in reality Palestinians' olive trees are destroyed for the expansion of Israeli settlements and their bypass roads, the building of the Israel's "Apartheid wall", and as a result of Israeli settlers' violence in the occupied West Bank.

Since the year 2001 Israel through its military and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza has uprooted, burnt and destroyed hundreds of thousands of olive trees that belong to Palestinian farmers and land owners, most of these trees have survived hundreds and thousands of years. We know that we will not replace the life of such olive trees, nor the stories and life lived around them, but we try to overcome such barbaric, irresponsible and careless practices by providing a sign of hope that future generations might than us for.

The JAI widely shares those farmers' stories and reports on the Israeli attacks on Palestinian lands, or farmers, or olive trees, including the ones planted through the Campaign. Partners, sponsors and JAI friends are informed about the Israeli violations related to the olive trees and ask them to act accordingly. Hence, the Campaign is an educational, lobbying, and advocacy tool which targets policies that continue to support this ongoing land confiscation. The Campaign is also a development tool which helps to stabilize the Palestinian farmers' economic situation by allowing them to continue to stay on their land and provide a livelihood.

The Campaign has an expanding network of friends and partners who have decided to join into the campaigns mission in keeping hope alive. They all work to bring about awareness about Palestine and encourage others to get involved through the sponsoring of planting of an olive tree. The campaign's networks exist in many countries like Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, UK, Switzerland, USA, Ireland, and many others.

The annual objective of the campaign is to bring in about 350 new sponsors and to help in replanting 8,000 new olive trees each year.

The trees planted so far have helped the farmers to steadfast on their land and confront the unjust Israeli military practices, and more importantly, to get individuals from all over the world involved and become more aware of what is happening in Palestine.

In spite of the destruction of the very foundations of their existence, and in spite of the ever increasing violence in the Holy Land, Palestinian women, men and children are committed to rebuilding their society and its structures without the use of violence. They do need your support and involvement.

Help Keep Hope Alive - An Invitation for Action

For the amount of USD $20 you can Sponsor an olive tree. Sponsorship covers the cost of the young plant, distribution, planting and information for the farmers on the best techniques for olive tree care and production improvement. The cost also covers an official certificate, a sponsor label to be inscribed with the sponsor's name and put up in the field where his/her tree is planted and miscellaneous implementation costs of the project. Three-year old, solid, young plants, agriculture tubes are used in order to optimize survival potential as well as irrigation pipes for fields that have access to water.

The Olive Tree - Symbol of Peace, Prosperity and Wisdom

In the whole of the Mediterranean Basin, the olive tree is an ancient source of basic livelihood and nutrition. Approximately 1,000 km2 of land in Palestine are planted with olive trees. An average olive tree produces 9 kg of olives, yielding 2 liters of oil which has many uses: food, sacramental oil, fuel, or as an ingredient of medicinal ointments. The olive tree is plain and frugal; it grows in poor soil, yields precious fruit, and can live for more than a thousand years. Throughout history, the Olive branch has been used as a symbol for peace, and together with the vine and the fig tree, the Olive Tree is also a symbol of wisdom, prosperity and happiness.

The Olive Picking Program is organized each fall for 10 days, in coordination with the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG).

This Olive Picking Program aims to provide assistance and a protective civil international presence for Palestinian families to help them overcome the restrictions imposed by the Israeli military occupation and settlers during the olive harvest season.

In addition to their picking activities the participants developed a social, cultural, political, historic and religious understanding of the region, witnessed life under occupation, and shared advocacy ideas and tools.

The JAI-ATG Olive Planting Program, part of the JAI Olive Tree Campaign, lasts for 10 days in February each year, where people of any age and background from all over the world can join.

Participants are given the opportunity to listen to Palestinian farmers’ stories of how their properties are threatened by settlers, the Apartheid Wall, bypass roads or Israeli settlement expansions.

They plant a selection of the trees sponsored that season, usually 4 fields with approximately 400 olive trees in each.

In addition to planting, the participants get a chance to visit the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron and Ramallah. They also meet with Palestinian organizations that provide information on conflict-related issues.

One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel's Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court's decision. Thirty eight years into Israel's occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall.

Israel is also preparing - in the shadow of its planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip - to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel's entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.

In light of Israel's persistent violations of international law, and

Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel's colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies, and

Boycott - Divestment - Sanction CampaignGiven that all forms of international intervention and peace-making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine, and

In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions;

Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in the spirit of internationalsolidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression,

We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.

These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:

Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

This document is the Christian Palestinians' word to the world about what is happening in Palestine. It is written at this time when we wanted to see the Glory of the grace of God in this land and in the sufferings of its people. In this spirit the document requests the international community to stand by the Palestinian people who have faced oppression, displacement, suffering and clear apartheid for more than six decades. The suffering continues while the international community silently looks on at the occupying State, Israel. Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace in our region, calling on them to revisit theologies that justify crimes perpetrated against our people and the dispossession of the land.

In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed, a call to justice and equality among peoples.

This document did not come about spontaneously, and it is not the result of a coincidence. It is not a theoretical theological study or a policy paper, but is rather a document of faith and work. Its importance stems from the sincere expression of the concerns of the people and their view of this moment in history we are living through. It seeks to be prophetic in addressing things as they are without equivocation and with boldness, in addition it puts forward ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and all forms of discrimination as the solution that will lead to a just and lasting peace. The document also demands that all peoples, political leaders and decision-makers put pressure on Israel and take legal measures in order to oblige its government to put an end to its oppression and disregard for the international law. The document also holds a clear position that non-violent resistance to this injustice is a right and duty for all Palestinians including Christians.

The initiators of this document have been working on it for more than a year, in prayer and discussion, guided by their faith in God and their love for their people, accepting advice from many friends: Palestinians, Arabs and those from the wider international community. We are grateful to our friends for their solidarity with us.

As Palestinian Christians we hope that this document will provide the turning point to focus the efforts of all peace-loving peoples in the world, especially our Christian sisters and brothers. We hope also that it will be welcomed positively and will receive strong support, as was the South Africa Kairos document launched in 1985, which, at that time proved to be a tool in the struggle against oppression and occupation. We believe that liberation from occupation is in the interest of all peoples in the region because the problem is not just a political one, but one in which human beings are destroyed.

We pray God to inspire us all, particularly our leaders and policy-makers, to find the way of justice and equality, and to realize that it is the only way that leads to the genuine peace we are seeking.

His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah

His Eminence Archbishop Atallah Hanna

Rev. Dr. Jamal Khader

Rev. Dr. Rafiq Khoury

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb

Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek

Rev. Dr. Yohana Katanacho

Rev. Fadi Diab

Dr. Geries Khoury

Ms. Cedar Duaybis

Ms. Nora Kort

Ms. Lucy Thaljieh

Mr. Nidal Abu Zuluf

Mr. Yusef Daher

Mr. Rifat Odeh Kassis - Coordinator

The 'Moment of Truth' document can be downloaded in several languages as PDF files:

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About Us

A joint program of East Jerusalem YMCA and YWCA of Palestine, works for Peace with Justice in Palestine, based on Humanitarian and Christian Values, by mobilizing the world movements of YMCA and YWCA, churches, church-based organizations, UN agencies, and other relevant organizations to influence decision-makers and prompt actions that contribute to end Israeli occupation and all its violations of International Law.